This Sunday February 9 sees the annual return of the US biggest television event, the Super Bowl LIX. Jamie McCombs, Fox Sports Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio will capture the sound creating a dynamic fan experience using Calrec consoles.Can you tell us about your background Jamie, and how you started in the industry?
It all started about 39 years ago, when I was in high school. I was given the opportunity to run the parabolic microphones on the sideline for NFL games. Being out there every weekend, I fell in love with it and kept learning and moving up. I had some great mentors in college, and I stuck with television. It really feels like yesterday!
I moved through the ranks from an A2, setting things up on the field, to an A1 where I started mixing shows for Fox. I mixed NFL and then moved over to college sports for ten years when they started covering college football. Then I came back about four years ago to mix the NFL games for Fox Sports.
Tell us about your Super Bowl experience and how you approach planning such a massive event?
I covered the Super Bowl in Phoenix in 2023. There's a huge amount of planning behind the scenes, lots of zoom calls and meetings. For this year's event, we ve been to New Orleans for meetings two or three times to do walkthroughs with the NFL and microphone placement. This enables us to plan how much we can use out in the field and in the announcement area. It takes a lot of time, Fox Sports starts planning way earlier, it's year-round for management.
How many audio channels are you managing?
In the field, just the microphones to capture the event. I think we have upwards of 50 microphones to hear everything that could possibly happen in the locker room and hallway areas, and the field of play. For our show, we have three talent including two roving talent on the field.
Do they introduce new tech each year?
We try to experiment with something new, but Fox has broadcast the NFL for quite some time. They know what we re expecting and what we want to do, especially the basics of trying to capture all the sounds on the field: what the announcers' positions are, how many people, how many announcers, that kind of thing. They have a very good idea of what to expect, but if we have the opportunity we try and do something special.
We mic the goal posts, so you can hear when the ball hits and we always use several crowd mics to capture the experience and the family action. We really like to emphasise those things.
How has this developed over time? Are there changing trends?
I think we just push it more and more; you want to hear the fan reactions. Just last week, we were at the NFC Championship in Philadelphia and the fans started their chant after the scores and the whole stadium spelled out Eagles'. You want to capture that sound. You want it big and expansive, so we put out quite a few crowd mics around the stadium to capture its vast size. You can kind of hear the space and feel how big the stadium is, it sounds really good.
What do you strive to achieve when you re approaching a major live sports event like the Super Bowl and how do you think it's developed over the years?
It's truly special because so many people watch it, and you just want to give people at home the most exciting experience; you want to give them that wow' factor. So, we try extra hard to bring what we feel they want to hear during the game.
It s got bigger for sure. Not just from the game aspect, but the pre-game too. Our studio presence here is massive. We have sets in the stadium, sets out on Bourbon Street, on top of parking garages. It s a big footprint, game side and studio side.
How do you approach the mix?
It's a fine balance because you want the fan reaction but we re truly here to capture the sounds of the game. Viewers really want to hear the quarterback cadence, the snap of the ball, the impact when a really big tackle happens. You re hoping everybody at home is saying Oh, wow. That s when you really know you ve captured something. It s a fine balance, you hear the crowd and the fans, but you really want to capture the sounds of the game because that s what gets people excited.
We've been doing multiple mixes from one of the trucks all year. We also facilitate the international compounds, and we have our domestic Fox Sports mix using the Calrec Apollo console in Game Creek's Encore truck. There's a group called Cosm that we send feeds to. They have a fan experience where fans can go and watch the game in a big screen immersive setting.
When it comes to the audio output, do you think viewer expectations have changed?
Sure, especially in terms of how they're listening at home. They re not just listening through their TV anymore. They have 5.1 rooms now, sound bars have come a long way, as has the quality of audio. They want to hear more and to have a better product. We push the 5.1 atmosphere because we know people at home are enjoying it. Fans can really maximise the home viewing experience in the 5.1 world.
I m very lucky, I work with top-notch people including Kevin Burkhart and Tom Brady.
When they hear things that are really good on the field, they will just lay out because they want to hear it too. It s a fun relationship I have with them, they ll hear if I m sneaking in something that sounds good, and they ll just stop talking so we can really enjoy it.
But we must have balance, we want to bring an exciting sound to the game, but we don t want to compete with the announcers. They re experts and you've got to be able to hear their commentary, but you still want to make it exciting and bring the sounds of the game.
On social media, you ll sometimes see when we re having too much fun and we re pushing the effects a little too much, it just sounds so good. You re excited, and everybody s doing a
